Ultra-Highly Processed Foods

[TheRealMBJ]

At risk of sounding defensive here but I almost always cook from scratch and very seldom resort to pre-prepared or oven dinners (,maybe once a month)

However, all of this talk recently that demonises Ultra-processed foods is another stick to beat working mothers with.

Sometimes I feel something has to give and I can't always plan, shop, execute a fully cooked from scratch meal every night of the week.

YABU - Get your Arese into Gear woman and organise your life

YANBU - this is just another way to make woman feel guilty. Get the fish fingers out!

@Princespea Thanks!

I understand what your saying in relation to it falling on women.

But should the research not be put out there ? They've only started research long term affects of UPF and the results are not good . Should this be kept from parents so we don’t feel bad ?

I do think there’s a touch too much hysteria about it if I’m being honest.

Among a tiny, tiny proportion of people maybe. Arguably there's not enough hysteria about it, since the vast majority of people probably aren't reducing their intake of it at all. If concern about UPF is scoffed at and dismissed on the basis that it's just hysterical middle-class mummies being OTT, that will just reduce any impetus to make the food companies take responsibility. And the people who suffer most from that are the financially most vulnerable.

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable, I totally get how you’re feeling.

We can’t argue with the science, ultra processed foods certainly aren’t great. However, life is so busy and we can only do our best, which means balance, IMO.

Is this even a question, who seriously has time if they actually work to make meals from scratch every night (awaits Mumsnet stampedes) it’s actually posts like this that make people feel bad “oh I only use fish fingers once a month at a push” “oh piss off Susan”

I agree with previous posters that all the advice of what we should be eating is confusing and in many cases conflicting. I think it’s also further confused by those who use it to justify their disordered eating.

I followed a plan several years ago that advocated clean eating except for protein powder/bars which when you read the ingredients was a chemical shit show.

I do wish people who stop saying i
”it’s a fad” “it encourages disordered eating” “it’s just clean eating” and then using tinned tomatoes as an example of UPF (they’re not) by all means do your own thing but stop spouting shit.
This is going to be the biggest health scandal since smoking once word gets out. What some big companies are doing to the food we feed our children is verging on criminal.

" in many cases conflicting"

I don't think there's much that is conflicting. Can you give some examples?

We started making the switch from UPFs last year. I was already in the habit of making bread. I understand sugar is okay - but not the amount that is in most confectionary etc. So, I now look after my kids' diets by avoiding all UPFs and modifying recipes to make them low sugar. I have also eliminated seed oils - (given the worrying studies about linoleic acid). It has been surprisingly easy - yes, time consuming (given full-time work) - but not impossible. It depends what your priorities are. Even condiments like salad cream and tomato sauce are pretty rubbish - so, for example, for the latter we mix tomato puree with water and vinegar, and it does the job! Instead of chocolate bars (full of emulsifiers), I make my own tray bake mixes using cacao and oats. I then cut them up and stick most in the freezer - easy to take out as needed. All in all, it has been a great success. 😊

Any tips on non UPF bread that doesn't cost the earth? I don't have time to make my own, and don't have space (or currently the funds!) for a bread maker. Any ideas?

Agree with you. Society is not set up for long hours spent preparing meals. When I worked part-time, I cooked from scratch most nights. Now I work full time outside the home, have extra work to do in the evenings and at weekends as well as kids to run round to different places I simply do not have the time. I still cook from scratch as often as possible but there are times I have to rely on ready-prepared bits.

What annoys me about this is the privilege that underpins it. As a PP said, there are children going hungry in this country whose families are going to food banks (where fresh food is understandably very limited). While we should all be cutting back on UPFs, the argument that they are 'evil' often comes from people who have no idea what it's like to be hungry. I have a friend who is very anti UPF, but her DS goes to a private school and they go on several fancy holidays a year. They have no idea how hard it is to avoid UPF if you can barely afford a tin of beans.

@Covidwoes I don't think you can beat making bread by hand - I devote Sundays to cooking healthy biscuits and bread for the kids packed lunches and freeze them for the week ahead. If you make bread rolls, they are easy to take out individually as and when (thawed in an hour). You really can get into a good routine. If we are going out, I just get up a few hours earlier. I suppose it is about having the mindset that makes it an absolute priority - and once you understand that UPFs are poisoning your kids, it is easier to make the sacrifices necessary to make the changes needed!

Believe me, we are not well off...but I find it is actually cheaper to cut out the crap!

@Raggletagglegypsy I just don't have the time. We have a 2 year old and a 4 year old with no family support, so can't drop the kids anywhere while we get on with things. I would need a bread recipe that takes 5 mins to make, including clean up. Does that exist? Me getting up a few hours earlier would be 3am.

@Raggletagglegypsy I am a teacher and helped put together food hampers for families over half term, including a family who had 20p left in their bank to buy food, because mum had attempted to buy all fresh food, but it didn't leave her with enough to cover the holidays. She can't use the oven due to electricity costs. Nobody can deny if you can completely cut out UPF you are privileged. I count myself in the privileged group (my DDs have never had sauce from a jar, for example), but I realise how lucky I am to be able to say that. Also, 'poisoning your kids' will make some parents feel really, really guilty. I'm not pro UPF, far from it, but it's so much easier for people like us to cut down on them than it is for others.

Try making it a fun activity - give your kids a bit of dough to mess about with alongside you...that is what I did when my kids were a bit smaller. They loved it. I often get up at 5ish to make bread (I agree 3 am would be a bit silly). I would say that the actual hands-on part of bread making only takes about 25 mins (if making rolls - which take a bit longer to shape). The beauty of not using a bread maker is that you can make larger quantities in one go (and then freeze for the week ahead).

As I said, we are pretty poor - I started off eating into my overdraft to buy a 16kg bag of flour. When you achieve economies of scale it does turn out cheaper. I worked out how much it was costing me per loaf, including the electricity. The other thing you have to factor in is that homemade bread is far more filling, which also makes it go further. I stand by my point that UPFs are poisoning our kids - that is what motivates me to go to such lengths to avoid them - because I would feel too guilty if I didn't.

I think we all need a deep breath and a bit of perspective over UPF! I know this latest book written by a middle class infectious diseases doctor who we trust as he was on a lot tv but he is NOT an expert in the complex science of nutrition, he has no degree in the subject and has a very strong personal bias and lacks perspective as a result. I follow a lot of nutrition academics from eminent universities, Dietitians and proper registered nutritionists with PhD's etc and they are up in arms about this book. Over my life there have been scare after scare that I can recall...
Eg.
-we all need to avoid fat

• avoid genetically modified food
• Atkins
• we all need to examine poo aka Gillian McKeith style
• we need to eat more fat
• clean eating only
• "sugar" free
• megadosing vits
• intermittent fasting
• carbs are the devil spawn
• gluten free for all trend
• Vegan / plant based etc etc

See a pattern!?

Current one is the UPF... there is no doubt that most of us need to eat less processed food in general but if you take one thing and go extreme with it then that's bad psychologically in my opinion. The media hype and social media exacerbates this and a few years ago a new type of eating disorder was born, Orthorexia Nervosa - google it, some people have this and it can lead to full blown anorexia Nervosa - which is a very serious disease. People imposing too many strict rules on food is not good, unless there is a medical reason and few foods are all bad! Keep a balance is always better than binary extremes. Chris Van Whats it should stay in his lane in my opinion!! He would not like a nutritionist writing books about Infectious diseases!! Balance is the key!

Many of those you list were obviously none scientific fads - I mean Atkins was a one man crusade y sell his books , and it's latest incarnation of devil carbs

There was a lot of incorrect thinking around fats

But basically the same message has come over and over again

Eat lots of vegetables
Don't eat lots of fat and sugar
And the UPF is relatively new version of the "what the duck are all the additives " of the 70s which led to huge improvements and restrictions on the worst additives

And frozen /tinned veg isn't classed as UPF . Processed yes , ultra processed no

I found the book really interesting.
I also rate joanna blythman books. For example : Bad food Britain. The food we eat. What to eat. And The food our children eat.
I do need to read Swallow this.
I don’t understand why certain food in the UK is worse. For example wraps, most British made are full of extras, but a certain one made in Italy isn’t. Just why?

We had an allotment growing up and ate meat with vegetables everyday.
We have an allotment now, but my children aren’t really interested, other than pea pods etc.

Over the years the advice has been at various times to eat low fat, low carb, don’t eat fruit, don’t eat starchy veg and don’t eat wheat, all of which supposedly had convincing science behind them.

The problem is that any helpful advice is taking over by diet zealots who propose a plan more restrictive than the original proponents.

Not THAT conflicting though - only conflicting since someone has started making money out of shite food?

How many of us can say we have a 23 inch waist now, compared with the 50's and 60's? I can't, there's a reason for that. Money made from crap food sold to millions via BOGOF's.

There was a thread on here recently querying whether the OP should have given her child fish fingers chips and beans or similar. My god, the sanctimony about 'ultra processed foods' which those items are not.

Another poster proclaimed to peel the breadcrumbs off 'it only takes a second and so much healthier'

Bleugh, what sort of fish finger does that leave.